head to head · open source
CloakBrowser vs brightdata-mcp
CloakBrowser has 32,712 GitHub stars, 2,720 forks, 164 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. brightdata-mcp has 2,709 stars, 337 forks, 40 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. CloakBrowser leads on adoption by 1,108% (32,712 vs 2,709 stars). CloakBrowser is written in Python under MIT; brightdata-mcp is written in JavaScript under MIT. CloakBrowser has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, brightdata-mcp 12%. CloakBrowser was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (ai-agents, browser-automation), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| CloakBrowser | brightdata-mcp | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 33K | ★ 2.7K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Python | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 337 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick CloakBrowser if
- You weight community size — 33K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick brightdata-mcp if
- You want the brightdata-mcp feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and brightdata-mcp fits your workflow better
About CloakBrowser
Stealth Chromium that passes every bot detection test. Not a patched config. Not a JS injection. A real Chromium binary with fingerprints modified at the C++ source level. Antibot systems score it as a normal browser — because it is a normal browser. Cloudflare Turnstile — 3 live tests passing (headed mode, macOS) Drop in Playwright/Puppeteer replacement for Python and JavaScript. Same API, same code — just swap the import. 3 lines of code, 30 seconds to unblock. 87 source level C++ patches — canvas, WebGL, audio, fonts, GPU, screen, WebRTC, network timing, automation signals, CDP input behavior humanize=True —…
read the full CloakBrowser overview →
About brightdata-mcp
Bright Data MCP Web search, page scraping, structured data extraction, and browser automation for AI agents and LLMs over the Model Context Protocol. Works with AI agents, coding agents, chat assistants, and any MCP compatible client. Quick Start • Pricing • Use Cases • Tools • Agent Skills • Docs • Support Free tier: 5,000 requests per month. No credit card required. Renews monthly. Overview The Bright Data MCP server gives AI agents real time access to public web data. It exposes 69 tools covering: Web search — Google, Bing, and Yandex results as structured data Page scraping — any URL as Markdown or HTML…
read the full brightdata-mcp overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is CloakBrowser or brightdata-mcp more popular?
CloakBrowser has 32,712 GitHub stars and brightdata-mcp has 2,709. CloakBrowser has the larger community by that measure.
Are CloakBrowser and brightdata-mcp free?
Both are open source. CloakBrowser is licensed under MIT and brightdata-mcp under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between CloakBrowser and brightdata-mcp?
CloakBrowser is written in Python and brightdata-mcp in JavaScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, CloakBrowser or brightdata-mcp?
Choose CloakBrowser if you want the larger community (32,712 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose brightdata-mcp if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.